I have pretty basic golden oak floors with my current white kitchen. I think they look great. They don't show a thing. I think they will just fade in the background. I wouldn't worry--it will be great.

I also love natural finish oak floors! I understand that dark stained floors are the big thing right now, but you don't necessarily have to jump on that bandwagon. There are lots of nice options.

If you love your kitchen we all will love that you are
happy. GWebers are happy for everyone's kitchen dreams.

I am in the process of changing my floors darker. My color
is not the dark inky black of Redroze. Hers is amazing. I
have a mix of ebony, English chestnut and mahogany (don't
ask) and this seems to be doing the trick for my
kitchen. I also have golden oak in the rest of the house.
I love them butting upto each other.

Here is a pic of the floor and my cabs but this is early
nothing is finished yet. This give you an idea. This is
before the put the sealer on it. They start today. Not super dark but I love them.

Some other inpirations to help you feel comfortable with
your plan for dark floors. You can see I like dark
floors too and these have been my inspiration.

You go girl!

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daisypinkcupcake

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Movingdesigns

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HB
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shakerhighgloss
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Oliveaux
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Lougee Brazillian Cherry MenoloPark
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Eric Roth

Oscar Shamamian
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Desire to Inspire
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Brooke Giannetti
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Marin Kithchen Co.

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Westchester Mag

If anyone has pics of the light floors with white or creamy cab, that would be so helpful. Boxerpups, that is a great look- love the dark floors with the light cab- that is why I'm having trouble picturing golden oak w/my (being built) white cabs!

Kelleg- do you have any pics? thank you!

Thrilled, Here is one of my inspiration pics with lighter floors:

And here is my kitchen in the middle of remodel (sorry no finished pics yet) with lighter floors.

I know all the magazines show darker floors right now, and they are beautiful. But I had them in a previous home, and the upkeep was too much for me with my kids (I have some very active boys who are always coming in and out from the woods, the pond etc..). Sometimes I look longingly at the darker floors/white kitchen pics shown here on GW, but for me with my family, the lighter floors are so much easier to maintain.

That's weird that everyone mentions dark floors being all the rage right now - I haven't even noticed that. But then again, I haven't been looking at magazines much lately since our kitchen should have been done MONTHS ago :) Anyway, I'm doing really dark floors through the entire house simply because I've wanted dark floors for years and want a change from the lighter colored oak we've always had. I think it should be whatever you really want, regardless of what anyone else thinks! The main floor of our house isn't huge, but I'm going with the dark hardwood anyway, even if it does make it seem a bit smaller. Simply because I like it :)

Sure, I have some. Not positive they are golden oak
but they are golden looking with white cabs.
I used to have golden floors with my white cabs. It is
a wonderful look. I just needed a change.
You will love the golden floors. It is warm and fresh
looking.

imperialhardwoodfloors
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Uptpdatedesings
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(okay not gold but pretty with light floors)

Bloomacious
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Google images
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Boston Design
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Straub

Cheviot

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Howstuffworks
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Bungalo Bliss

Eric Roth
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thefloorauthoirity

apartmenttherapy

inimagine
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cococozy

I actually think any wood floor is great.Yes, some look more "country" and others more "elegant" but either is great. I have red oak stained "provincial" and its as dark as I would want to go. It already shows bread crumbs, white dog hair etc. like crazy. And darker would mean dust showing up worse.

Mountaineer girl.
They look amazing. The provincial stain my floor guys
showed me is nothing like your floors. Yours are beautiful. A rich warm brown.
~boxerpups

Thrilledtoremodel - I am tickled pink that I came in to see your post! I haven't been on in awhile. I am so excited to see the progress on your kitchen! And am flattered that you would imitate mine!!

Our maple island was a custom stain, which was made to match the dark grain in our hardwood floors. I honestly could not tell you the stain colour or mix...the cabinetmaker did it. I'd recommend that you stain it to match a sample that you like.

As for your hardwood kitchen, you probably know from my blog that I did not like our original hardwood colour. It was a golden stained oak. One of the main reasons we changed it, aside from not loving it and always being drawn to dark brown hardwood, was that the Bianco Antico just did not go with the golden oak. We found that it clashed. The Bianco Antico is cool with some taupey browns, whereas golden oak has a yellow orange undertone.

We had golden oak in the attached family room and tile in the kitchen. We laid a matching oak in the kitchen, then restained OUR ENTIRE MAIN FLOOR to a dark brown. No regrets about it, and it's my favourite thing in the house. Is it in your budget at all to restain, given your kitchen's smallish (but by no means dimunitive) size?

If not, I'd say you could tie in your island stain to the floors. Maybe make it a dark golden brown... I think the Chantilly Lace will still work since it has a slightly (ever so slight) warm undertone to it. I like Chantilly Lace because it has both cool and warm undertones depending on the lighting.

Hope this helps!!

I noticed that Hutker Architects does a lot of light colored floors in their kitchens. I think it may because they build a lot of seafront homes and cottages and light colored hardwood lends more of a beachy, coastal style.

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Just looked at some of the above posts and images. I love Boxerpups' stain, it's just lovely!!! I think the think that "bugs" me about the golden oak is the yellowish undertone, which is of course subjective. I think you could pull off lighter floors in a caramel colour, or nutmeg colour.

If you do choose the golden oak,I noticed that many of the inspiration photos with golden oak floors have all white kitchens including a white island which helps keep everything feeling neutral since the gold of the floors provide a bit of a pop. If you do go with a stained island, as I mentioned, you have to make sure it goes with your hardwood stain...compliments it.

One point - I think it's a misconception that dark floors make your house look smaller. I've read in some magazine that it actually makes your room look bigger especially if you have light walls and ceilings, as the dark floors make the floors look deep and the light ceilings and walls look expansive. I've also seen small condos with dark floors that look superb.

I agree though, do what you like!

Thank you so much everyone for the pics (boxerpups you are pic-prolific!!)

Redroze- I appreciate the tip re: stain-to-floor harmony..I wonder- would it make any difference that we were planning to do (because I was winging it off your photos) a black paint on the island? Does that remove the 'issue' of stain/stain harmony?

I was picturing the black island 'popping' on the light oak...

Also, now I am concerned about the Bianco antico (cool?) w/the (warm?)oak flooring...I'll post some pics below of the slab we choose..they called it "Fleur de Liz" but it looked identical to the other BA slabs we looked at... DH is saying it will look fine, but he'll practically color blind ;)

That is some of the most stunning granite I've ever seen! Great choice!

All I can say is you must be thrilled, Thrilled! Stunningly gorgeous granite. Can you bring a sample
of golden oak flooring to put next to the slab to see how it will work with the coolness of the granite?

thanks guys! I am in love.

And I'll have to let Massachusetts GWers know if this granite guy works out as well as I hope he will: He's 35 a sq/ft for labor- then will help you shop for the granite. He actually took me to several distributors (found that oversize slab for $1400 at Marble and Granite in Canton, Mass) and helped me choose the best slab!

http://www.compassgreensolutions.com/

So at less than 50 sq ft of kitchen, my granite will cost roughly 3000$ installed, or about 60$ a sq ft. Whoohoo!

Pluckymama- thanks for the suggestion, I will see what I can do about getting a sample.

Ooooo...I love those slabs. Fleur de Lis, Bianco Antico...whatever you call it, I call it GORGEOOUS.

I think a black island would work really well. It would tie into the granite, and the oak floors would be the one "warm" element in the room. I agree, bring the hardwood sample and take a photo next to the slab.

I love where you're taking this, Thrilled!

Thank you all for the suggestions, and granite compliments!!

Not sure how to get a hardwood sample- i guess call the flooring guy and ask if he has any?? Have to figure that part out.

Redroze, I'll definitely keep you posted, we'll take pictures as we remodel... It will be a mini-redroze kitchen w/a twist :)

Boxerpups: what's the name of the stain on the first picture?

http://s620.photobucket.com/albums/tt283/boxerpups22/?action=view¤t=DSC06159.jpg

Hi Calgold08,

I think you are talking about my kitchen floor.

Is this the picture below?
This has a bonakemi stain oil based color called English
chestnut mixed with Mahogany. On top of both these stains
is Ebony. If you check out my link you can see I how it
turned out before the ebony. I was sad but now I LOVE it.
Thanks for asking.

Here is another picture of the same floor. It is dark
so prepare yourself. It is what I wanted but some might not
like it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kelleg, Erikanh, Postiano, Pbrisjar, Help : (